On the wrong end of a Macedonia Park thriller - which included seven goals in a breathless final 25 minutes - Micevski let rip after his side squandered the chance to pad their Illawarra Premier League lead.

‘‘We had too many passengers [yesterday] and we haven’t had that over the past six weeks,’’ Micevski fumed after Joshua Martin steered home an 88th-minute winner for the Foxes.

‘‘We’ve got guys starting to believe in their own publicity and as a consequence they [Fernhill] take the points. [We were] just not at the races today,’’ he said.

‘‘We weren’t good enough and it’s as simple as that. We weren’t even in first gear. Full credit to Fernhill, they wanted to win the game and they won the game.’’

Regardless of the result of the Tarrawanna-Dapto Dandaloo catch-up fixture next weekend, Micevski’s men will finish their Bert Bampton Cup final on Sunday without the league lead.

Micevski’s opposite number yesterday, Alan Boyle, hailed the result as potentially season-defining as the Foxes moved four points clear of Picton in the cellar.

‘‘They’re the games we’ve been losing all year and to finally have two games back-to-back we’ve won will be such a massive confidence boost,’’ Boyle said.

‘‘It was a typical game for us - we leak plenty, but we make enough chances to score plenty. For once we were a bit more clinical in front of goal and we knocked five in.

‘‘We set our goal and said we had three games and wanted seven points and we’ve done exactly that, with two wins and a draw.’’

The unlikely hero for the Foxes was Martin, consigned to the fringes of the first team for the majority of the season. But with the experienced Andrew Paine facing a lengthy injury lay-off, the livewire striker chipped in with two goals and the all-important winner.

It seemed like Fernhill were destined for anything but three points, after leading and being pegged back on three occasions.

An Andy Keep brace alongside strikes from Daniel Krstevski and Martin had Fernhill 4-2 up with less than 15 minutes remaining, but Brian Montanari and Domenic Cutri’s second set up a grandstand finish.

‘‘I don’t mind Josh up front,’’ Boyle said. ‘‘He gives us that energy and raw pace.

‘‘He’s been in and out of first grade, getting a run here and there. He’s earned his spot and he’s had a blinder.’’

Elsewhere, a 10-man Dapto Dandaloo kept their title hopes alive after Noel Spencer struck late to seal a 2-1 win over South Coast United.

The Fury’s Sam Munro cancelled out Ricky Bertakis’ opener in the 55th minute before former New Zealand international Chris Jackson was sent off for the second time in the space of four weeks.

Darren Stone helped Tarrawanna close the gap to a point on league leaders Wollongong United and Bulli after the George Naylor medallist scored once and won a penalty for the second goal in the Blueys’ 2-0 win over Port Kembla. Tim O’Brien converted the successful penalty.